Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Show and Tell Tuesday

Today's topic for Show and Tell Tuesday is Hometowns.

I was actually born in Toronto and lived here until I was 4 years old. Although I vaguely remember some things from those first four years (swimming lessons, a run-in with a mean dog, and the garbage trucks), I can't really call Toronto my "hometown". That title instead belongs to the place where I lived from 4 years old to 18 years old - Shelburne, Nova Scotia.

This shows you roughly where it is.

This sign greeted visitors for a long time. Usually the Loyalist was missing a leg.

The Town of Shelburne is quite small, the population is less than 2,000 people, although there are more people living outside town limits that still work, go to school, and shop in town. My high school graduating class had 60 people in it.

The town is rich in history - as the sign says, it was founded by Loyalists (the people fleeing the United States during the American Revolution) and also the destination for many Black Loyalists (former slaves who were looking for a new home in free British North America) (if you read Book of Negroes (aka Someone Knows My Name), you will have heard of Shelburne and Birchtown). It was the fourth largest city in North America at one time, but a few hard winters and the lack of land suitable for farming caused people to move away.

These are fishing dories, small boats launched from larger ships to fish off of during the day.

Shelburne has always been known for shipbuilding and fishing, and boasts the 3rd largest natural harbour in the world.

With my best friend from home at her wedding by the Shelburne lighthouse.

Several movies have been filmed in Shelburne because of its historic Dock Street and the lack of development on the other side of the harbour. The most famous movie was "'A' The Scarlett Letter" starring Demi Moore, Gary Oldman and Robert Duvall.

Shelburne is small but it has a lot of great people living there. They look out for each other, and are ready to help out in a crisis, and help celebrate the good times. Everyone knows everyone else, and although that means you can't get away with anything, that also means you can't get away with anything!

I am so happy that I got to grow up in such a special town, we didn't have a lot of opportunities for class choices in high school, sports or other extracurricular activities, but we made do with what we had and were probably the better for it.

Roseway River by my house this past Christmas.

There are lots of little towns like Shelburne, but few are lucky enough to have a hip hop song written for it. This song "UR Shelburne" was written by a local hip hop artist, Jay Bizzy (my friend's brother, because of course we all know each other!), and captures the essence of my hometown.

Check it out:

A few translation notes about the song:

- "The Oxbow" (where your father is acting like he's single) is a bar that was out by the highway, it is shut down now, but made for a few interesting evenings.

- "Golden Glow" - You know, I don't even really know what this is and where it came from, it was just something alcoholic to drink that was usually pretty terrible tasting. I can't say I ever drank much of it but it was always around.

- "Sears catalogue" - There aren't many stores in Shelburne so most people order things from the Sears catalogue.

- "Your Scarlett Letter t-shirt" - Everyone had one, the movie was the central feature of our town for awhile.

- "People asked you what you did" because there was a youth correctional centre in town and people thought that everyone was from there, rather than actually lived in the town.

Shelburne What!!

If you want to visit, it is 2 hours southwest of Halifax. It has a few lovely restaurants (including my favourite), lots of museums, the best lobster in the world (lobster season December to June), harbour boat tours, a microbrewery, a golf course, beautiful (and secluded) beaches, and many friendly people. Make it part of your next Nova Scotia vacation!

Welcome!

About Me

I'm Sarah. I am a wife to Dave, a mom to E and Q, and lawyer. I like watching TV, being outside, drinking coffee, travelling, trying new recipes, exploring my city, and enjoying food and cocktails at fun restaurants. I am a Nova Scotia ex-pat now living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.